Implementation of a marketing automation system is as crucial as deciding to choose one for your effective marketing strategy. A marketing automation system is just not about using tools effectively over time. Updating websites, planning systems integrations, developing content, cleaning data, planning rollout, training strategies and more are some of the crucial tasks involved with the implementation of the marketing automation system.
The journey from identifying the most suitable options to evaluating platform capabilities and arriving at a final decision is based on a complex process of approvals from key decision-makers and influencers.
While choosing a platform maybe half the job done, the implementation is where the real challenge begins
While you are embarking on a new journey from identifying the most suitable marketing automation platform, evaluating system capabilities, and choosing the right one, your job may be half done. To use the software effectively you need to implement it successfully. This is the real challenge.
let’s discuss in detail how to get your business to undergo this seamless transition and be marketing automation ready.
Marketing automation: Implementation, process, and commitment
Marketing automation is a fantastic technology platform with tremendous power offering tools that provides one solution for online marketing programs. A study from Act-On and Best Practices from Econsultancy found that 53% of b2b firms are using marketing automation and 37% plan to use marketing automation in the future.
Although the marketing automation process is very effective and becoming popular, the biggest challenge is the successful implementation to realize the full potential of marketing software. It is only as good as the implementation, process, and commitment behind using the marketing automation system.
While adopting and implementing marketing automation, it likely that you recognize the pitfalls.
Here are few quick tips to help you start off the implementation process and create a seamless user experience.
- Lay it out:
It is very important to define the objectives and goals you want to achieve. The goals of your organization must align with the requirements of marketing automation software. Don’t forget to keep in mind the size of your business entity. - People Participation:
While you are implementing new marketing automation software, you seek equal participation from all the teams like sales management, sales operations, CRM administration unit, IT staff, webmaster, or digital team. For effective implementation of marketing, the process makes sure you cover all the stakeholders. Effective implementation strategy assists a business and its stakeholders with steady change management. Another important point to consider is how the work culture needs to change to achieve marketing and sales goals while implementing marketing automation. - Competency Check:
During the initial stage of the implementation journey identify technical skills required and other operational requirements to execute new processes successfully. Then you can plan skill-based training or hire people. If needed you can allocate a budget for hiring freelancers for niche skills. - Delegate:
Implementation cannot happen in isolation. It seems like a mammoth task. Start delegating responsibilities. Create redundancy within the team. Allow the multiple-member team to get trained on new processes rather than concentrating the effort on one person - Invest in training:
While executing implementation at various levels factor in the training of new employees onboarded. Foundational training imparted to the team may seem like an add-on cost, but it comes with long-term benefit. Training employees to gain skills not only help boost the output but also impart confidence in marketers that their company is willing to invest in them. - Divide and Rule:
Implementing a marketing automation system seems like a colossal task. Your team may feel overwhelmed. But you can carry out this transition in phases. Once you register some success you can move to the next level iteration. Your team will get momentum and gain motivation to meet specific targets and hit goals in line with the underlying big vision. - Top Dollar:
Successful implementation of automation comes with an underlying price. This primarily includes the budget. Make sure you have the right staff and internal resources to help you with planning, implementation, and execution.
While purchasing, make sure you consider all costs and terms of the contract. It’s advisable to go for a trial pack rather than a block for the entire. - Choose precisely:
With so many viable solutions available it’s important to choose the right marketing automation software. Look for software that provides features like automated programs, website visitor tracking, lead scoring, etc that meet your requirements. Don’t pay for features that you don’t need. - Customer support:
Today there is a plethora of marketing automation tools that offer a slew of features suitable for your business. Amongst all the capabilities best of breed, support is of paramount importance. Choose a vendor that offers good customer service and 24*7 support all year round. - Look Outwards:
You can create a simple document eliciting the advantages of bringing this change and a high-level description of the timing and activities involved in implementation. This can be executed with taking help of an implantation consultant. For any one-off requirements like API programming for systems, integration or web designers for landing page creation or web developers for integration of demand generation forms in a website outside help as specialist or subject matter experts is very helpful.
Pro Tip: You can choose to hire consultants for the implementation stage and give training to the internal team to use and maintain the system. - Integration:
Identity which integrations are most useful to your marketing and sales team. Most marketing automation software can integrate with Salesforce, GoToWebinar, Adwords, etc. For more obscure CRM look for marketing automation that provides FTP synch or an open API for custom integration. - Define Rules of Engagement:
It is important to set rules of access to your new system like who will be using it, how to use it, frequency of contact with the users, look and feel of communication. This is important to ensure that customers are not bombarded with messages or emails. Using marketing automation, you can control frequency and relevance. This will safeguard the quality of marketing efforts and avoid confusion.
Layout a plan for successful implementation of your marketing automation using one or all the guidelines discussed here. Do let us know which strategy(ies) mentioned here worked for your business.
Meta Description: Once you choose to include marketing automation software as a part of your marketing strategy, it becomes relevant to think of the entire journey from implementation, process, and commitment perspective to utilize its features to the best. Out of this successful implementation is very critical to achieve the desired output. Let’s explore ways to successfully implement marketing automation tools.
